Meyer Lemon Muffins

I was bummed when I heard the LA TImes was discontinuing their food section. Perhaps they’re not discontinuing it – maybe it’s that they are consolidating and into another newspaper section. Anyway- I love the Los Angeles Times food section! I hate to see it made smaller! I’ve got lots of recipe inspiration from there. Just like the other day when I had all of those Meyer lemons and blood oranges. You remember? I posted about it here. It was a regular citrus fest! A couple of days later I made these beautiful Meyer lemon muffins. I found this recipe in the Los Angeles Times food section. I absolutely adore these muffins! They came out beautiful, as you can see. A couple of things I had problems with: the wetness that the lemon slice on top created in the muffin it’s self. The lemon that I reserved to use as decor was rather soft. So the mandoline was unable to cut slices as thin as I wanted them to be. Also, the recipe clearly states to fill the muffin pan only halfway full with batter then add the lemon slice. That’s a very good idea … And they say it for a very good reason. You can see how the lemon is a little bit lost once the muffin is baked. What happened in many of the muffins is: as the batter cooked it overtook the lemon slice and the lemon slice sank. I think the combination of the thicker slice, and too much batter in the muffin tin where the culprits here. The muffins that came out good were really, really good. I encourage you to give this recipe a try, I intend to use this recipe again, next time perhaps with regular lemons or pink grapefruit. And I definitely intend on getting as much inspiration from the LA Times website as possible!

no i didn’t. i am a pretty new cook, so i generally have few of my own bits of brilliance. drying them is a great idea. and perhaps i will incorporate this “drying” technique in my future fruit ventures. (that sounds sarcastic, but i am serious. “hey! i can dry stuff off a little”, it might help”.) funny, i often find myself “rushing” thru a recipe. even if not physically rushing- in my mind- i am working that recipe to death. again i think it’s because i am still a little unsure… thanks for the input. 😉 d.

No problemo, and I know better than to assume sarcasm in written text. I do a lot of cooking and have some formal training, so don’t hesitate to ask for help. I’m sure there are a lot of other people who could suggest far better ideas as well.

oh thanks. i guess i am also trying to figure out how to take pictures of the food i cook! i definitely use natural light when the sun is out. it limits my capturing of the process- my kitchen’s pretty natural light challenged. thanks for stopping by!

I will make a point to post them – I’ve been slacking in the photography/cooking post department and I love to do both! Thanks for following my blog btw! My photos and cooking are actually on my eurolinguiste blog, that’s my personal blog where as sksaxgirl is my music blog. 🙂

How about candying the lemon slices? I found this easy looking (but a little time-consuming) recipe on butteryum: http://butteryum.blogspot.com/2010/05/how-to-make-candied-lemon-slices.html. We don’t get Meyer lemons over here in the UK so I can only guess what this recipe might be like with all the proper ingredients. Looks beautiful. And congrats on the being freshly pressed! I was fp’ed two months ago and was amazed and stunned. Enjoy the limelight (or lemonlight, if you will)

great idea! funny you say that, i candied some lemon slices this morning to go on a cake i made last night. that was my first time. they are easy! and fun. and deelish! i’ll post about that cake later this week.
(this is so unusual to have so many comments and likes. freshly pressed is FUN!)

i should also say i have been snacking all day on the candied lemons i did not need for my cake. they provide a nice “oh, i’ve walked into the kitchen” celebration snack. i have celebrated many times today! #candiedlemons #justsayno

These look amazing, and reminds me of a wonderful cookie I made – big, soft ginger cookies with chunks of crystallized ginger in them and a paper thin slice of meyer lemon on top. The combo was addictive. The slices didn’t sink, but my lemons were so huge this year that I had to cut the slices in quarters. I also had the problem with the extra moisture affecting the batter and wondered whether it would be a good idea to decrease the liquid in the batter.

Hey, wow. Your pics look better than the ones in the L.A. Times, too. Thanks for the heads-up about this recipe, as well as the whole L.A. Times section that I’ve never even seen before. Can’t wait to recreate some of their recipes for my own blog, and this one goes to the top of the list!

These look so cute and delicious! I grow my own food and lemons have been the one thing that I ended up with way too much of with little minimal need for the, but now I know how they’ll be used! Thank you.

I’d have to hunt for Meyer lemons here in Texas, my regular store has never carried them. Maybe Whole Foods has some… Muffins are my go-to dessert, even more than cookies since they bake all at once in a single pan! Faster delicious treats with less mess 🙂
Congrats on being Freshly Pressed!

Holy Mole-y, a cup PLUS 2 T of sugar! *all big-eyed here* 😉 Seriously, that is a lot of sugar, ppl. Your pics captured me though, so very pretty. Look like little lemon-y butterflies on top. But I can’t eat sugar, so I’d have to just use ’em for decoration, lol

Thanks Darla, looks like that is what is going to be on my menu for dinner and breakfast. I will try to remember to take a picture of the first batch of muffins, but I dont think they will be cooling off too long since I have not eaten breakfast, lunch or dinner today.

Wow. This reminds me of when I made lemonade from scratch for the very first time. Couldn’t stop drinkin’ it! I think it’ll go well with these muffins (that are making my mouth water at the sight of these pictures).

they really do look delicious ! i make coconut and lemon pudding bread but i use cadied lemon and orange peels, i candy the rind myself before baking it, but i havent dried using whole slices. great ideas !

OMG. I candied lemons yesterday for a cake decoration. so easy and so yummy. i saved the syrup they cooked in, in my fridge i have no idea what i will do with it. i snacked on the slices that were left over- all day. sometimes cooking discoveries can be dangerous! 😉

How cute- and they look so succulent and love the wedge of lemon on top. Why is LA Times discontinuing the food section?!?! ( I used to live in LA) and always checked it out- it had fab offers and recipes (I still have a recipe for champagne risotto I got from there!) I hope they will continue it online or similar… !!

hi! i have no idea. maybe b/c it’s the way most of print media is headed- to all digital. too bad, i love newspapers, paper and books and MAGAZINES! i don’t live in LA LA- but i have an old old piece of their food section from 1999 that i kept from a visit there. (a leisurely hotel morning read souvenir) have kept it on my fridge since. a pic of a baby pig. 😉
i adore their website.

I’ve never actually eaten a piece of lemon. I mean lemon zest, a little lemon peel, lemon-flavored things, sure, but I’m curious what it would taste like baked in to a muffin. To just bite in to it? Hmmm. If the picture is any indication though, it would be delicious.

I speak the truth! =) You’re welcome. Looking forward to reading your blog…thanks for your “follow” of CN&E. I also have a food-related blog (more about healthy stuff than recipes)… if you are interested there is a link at the top of my CN&E home page =)

ahh Kat! great question! i worried myself over this decision too. it is not clear in the recipe. i did not use the peel here. i cut the pieces and pulled the membrane and pulp off. i think you could though, the peel is so thin. i had previously zested the lemons before putting them in the FP. i wanted the extra zest for my meyer lemon sorbet. also, i looked at the lemon mixture several times while processing- in a fork to see how the puree was doing. i wanted to be sure to see the membranes were chopping up nicely. they do. thanks for coming by- and please let me know if you make them and if you take any pics.

well, they aren’t better tasting. they are different tasting. they are not really COMPLETELY interchangeable in my opinion. sometimes the fragrance and taste of the Meyers can be too overpowering. IMO.
thanks for commenting!

yes! do try them. b/c if you don’t like regular lemon you will probably like the Meyer lemon. totally different taste. if you do like lemon, you might like the Meyer. It’s a “different lemon” taste. i like both, but there are some places that i find Meyers to be too “sweet”. enjoy!

Well, personally, I think the ones with the lemon slice sunk in just a little look even more appetizing. They make me want to bite into them just to get to that “slightly damp” middle. I wouldn’t consider any of it a mistake.

great photos. I’d never heard of Meyer Lemons until I moved to LA, but that’s also when I discovered that many coworkers and neighbors grew them in their yards. I love their unique, more-than-lemon flavor. These muffins look yummy too!

Darla,
I just made your lemon muffins. They are scrumptious and addictive. I left off the lemon slice and used regular lemons. The tops are rounded, golden and crisp. The inside has a crumbly texture but holds together. Very light, but rich. I made some in the 6 silicone cups that I have. They are perfect and pop right out. The others I baked in a 12-cup muffin tin lined with paper inserts. Mistake. The muffin sticks to the paper (in spite of all that butter.). Ah well, live and learn. The taste, however, is wonderful.

Yum! Yours look way better than the ones on the latimes website! I just happen to have a meyer lemon tree leaning over my fence with a gazillion lemons on it. Not for long now–plans for multiple batches! 🙂